uh oh

[weaselnoze]

i took my spent battery out and topped it off, threw it on a car charger and charged it for 1/2 hr. then i put it back on the bike.  now i get no power out of it at all.  i guess the battery is completely dead now and the charge killed it (improper charge).  my question is, will the gs run w/o a battery>? i bump started it and it ran like shaZam!.  boggin thru the gears.  lurching so bad i almost fell off.     suggestions? i plan on getting a new battery asap but i wanna get out and ride today!!

[Grainbelt]

No, it won't. What do you think generates the spark for the spark plugs? And even if you have some  theory about the charging system generating enough to keep it running, forget about it after you run the headlight and try to charge the dead battery.  Go buy a battery.

[weaselnoze]

so thats the reason its lurching all over the place?  there isnt anything i can do in the meantime till i get a battery?

[Trwhouse]

Hi there,
Let's see, no, there isn't anything else you can do but get a new battery, charge it properly for 10 hours or so at no more than 1.2 amps, and then install it.
There are some things you just can't take shortcuts on, no matter how much you want to ride right now.
Good luck,
Todd

[weaselnoze]

damn lol... so i have to charge the new battery?!

[jefferygs500]

yes you will, you will have to put the battery on the charger and just wait. umm guys, i was wonderin, if the battery starts the bike, but it is still not fully charger, would it make the bike bog threw the gears?

[weaselnoze]

for some time now i had not been able to start the bike with the start button. i'd just bump it and it ran fine on what was left of the battery.. until now.

[Mickey_D100]

Call a shop - many times they have a few batteries on charge already, or call them and tell them you'll pick it up next day and they'll charge it for you.  I feel your pain, but like someone else said, just not much way around it.

[LimaXray]

Here's a ghetto solution that may work: go to walmart, buy one of those huge 1+ farad capacitors for the car stereo amplifiers, install it where the battery was, and give it a good bump start 

Then go buy yourself a new battery and put it on charge.  When it's all ready to go, swap out the capacitor and return it to walmart 

I almost want to give it a try and see if this will work...

[Bluebellylint]

Careful if that Cap blows its likely to take a few things with it. 

[LimaXray]

oh but I've got balls of steel   




steel ball bearings that is...

[manofthefield]

My '65 Yamaha could be run with or without it's 6 volt battery...  Of course you could flip the lights off too.  It definately idled better with the battery in it since I always ran with the lights on.  But it was nice to be able to run w/o the battery when I had too.  I'm sure there's no way a GS would run w/o a battery

[Jace009gs]

nope u need the battery chris ....should have gotten a moped

[weaselnoze]

moped... mmmm.  lol   thanks for the responses guys. i'll pick one up tomorrow.  on a side note, i went to walmart and they had 2 of the es12bs batteries.  both of them were all busted up and still on the display. assholes..

[groff22]

Just so happens my Battery is in it's grave as well...  I have a car charger that has a 2 amp option, Is it ok to charge our yoko-whatever batteries at 2 amps?

[3imo]

From my experience.
Just before I changed my battery out last summer, It died.
I just jumped the bike and kept going. I did that for about a week with the battery completely dead.
I think the bike will run fine with a dead battery as long as it is kept in the circuit.

I went out to the bike after reading this thread and started her up, then removed the batt. she does bog down. but she still generates spark.

If I am wrong, oh well. opinions are like A**holes.

[MarkusN]

Running without battery is not safe. The resulting overvoltage may harm electronics.
And a dead battery may, depending on the cause of it dying, pull your voltage down to unusable levels (if you have a shorted out cell.)

So while your M.O. maybe ok for some, it may not for others.

[LimaXray]

The reason it, or most vehicles for that matter, won't run without the battery is the generator produces a very uneven power supply.  Generators produces an AC, which is then rectified to produce the DC our bikes know and love.  (am I wrong about this, I know this is not the case with alternators) The problem with rectifying AC is it produces a very very noisy DC source.  Worst case, using a half-wave rectifier, the generator is only producing a current half of the time.  The other half of the time, there is no power at all.  Now, the electronics and inductive coils for the ignition system require a steady current to function properly.  The battery acts as a giant capacitor and filters out this noise (who remembers physics and RC circuits?) and provides a nice even power supply for every thing to work right.  Ever take apart a power supply to a computer or something?  Notice the huge capacitors they have?  Same idea.  Not only does this filter created by the battery make everything nice and linear, it also protects everything from various spikes and peaks.

So yes, running without a battery won't work, and even if it does, its probably a not a good idea.

Another thing is the strong peaky current produced my a generator or alternator is not good for charging a battery.  If the battery in your car or bike dies, you need to trickle charge it or you'll ruin the battery, they're just not designed to be charged this fast. (unless its a deep cycle battery)   

[Cusimano]

Since i havent seen an alternators on our bikes....does the bike just run off the battery 100%?

[Egaeus]

Since i havent seen an alternators on our bikes....does the bike just run off the battery 100%?

Nope.  There's a generator, not an alternator.  It's behind the left crankcase cover.